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The authors of the Lev team project are the famous Czech hockey agent Jaroslav Zidek and two entrepreneurs from Karlovy Vary, Roman Slavchev and Sergey Zaitsev. At first they were going to create a KHL club in the Czech city of Hradec Kralove, but the Czech Hockey Federation opposed this project. On July 28, 2010, it was announced that the club would not be able to take part in the 2010/11 championship.
On October 13, 2010, the Slovak Ice Hockey Federation accepted Lev as a member. This meant that Lev got the opportunity to play in the 2011/12 season in the Kontinental Hockey League. The President of the Kontinental Hockey League, Alexander Medvedev, confirmed in February 2011 that Lev had submitted an application to the KHL for the 2011–12 season. On March 2, 2011, the club’s youth team, the Tatra Wolves, was accepted into the KHL’s subsidiary, the MHL. In April 2011, Alexander Medvedev told reporters that HC Lev was 100% likely to take part in the KHL in the 2011/12 season
On May 9, 2011, a special briefing was held in Bratislava, at which KHL President Alexander Medvedev officially announced the entry of HC Lev into the league starting with the 2011/12 season. IIHF President Rene Fasel also confirmed that the international federation does not object to HC Lev joining the league, as the Slovak Hockey Federation has agreed to this. The home stadium will be the Tatravagonka Arena, taken on a symbolic lease from the city for 1 euro for an unlimited period; This stadium will also continue to be used by HC Poprad, which plays in the Slovak Extraliga.
On September 26, 2011, Lev won their first victory in the KHL, beating Dynamo Riga with a score of 0:2.
At the end of the season, it was announced that the club would move to Prague, Czech Republic. At the same time, the Prague club is not the official successor of “Lev” from Poprad.
From the site http://ru.wikipedia.org/
In 2012, Lev moved from the Slovakian Poprad to the Czech capital Prague, and although they retained the name, this team had nothing in common with the club of 2011-12 and was not the official successor.
In 2014, the Prague team, led by head Finnish coach Kari Jalonen, quite sensationally, reached the final of the Gagarin Cup, where, in a hard-fought battle, they lost to Metullarg Magnitogorsk in seven matches. Just 2 months later, a grim message came from Prague - due to financial instability, Lev refused to participate in the KHL in 2014-15.
Lev Prague (full name - HC Lev Prague listen)) is a professional ice hockey team playing in the Kontinental Hockey League. The club's home arena is Tipsport Arena; Lev plays some matches at the O2 Arena.
Club symbols
Uniform: The Levs' home uniform is colored in the red, blue and white colors of the national flag of the Czech Republic.
Emblem: The emblem depicts a lion located on the small coat of arms of the Czech Republic.
Story
Preface
The official founding date of the Lev Prague club is 2012. However, the idea of including the Czech team in the KHL appeared back in 2010. The authors of the “Czech Lion” project are Roman Slavchev and Sergei Zaitsev- entrepreneurs from Karlovy Vary, as well as hockey agent Jaroslav Zidek. Initially, Lev was supposed to be based in the city of Hradec Králové, but the refusal of the leadership of the Czech Hockey Union to register the club caused the project participants to move it to the city of Poprad in Central Slovakia.
Having declared his intention to join the ranks of the Slovak Hockey Federation, he became a full member in October 2010. Thanks to this, the Lev management could apply to join the KHL. After the application was approved by the Kontinental Hockey League, the Poprad team officially became participant of the KHL championship of the 2011/12 season, which was personally announced by its President Alexander Medvedev.
Photo: Lev Poprad after winning the Tatra Tournament (cas.sk)
However, despite loud statements, the team was unable to meet the high expectations of the club management. Having lost five matches in a row at the start, “Lev” failed to gain a foothold in the playoff zone during the season and took 20th place at the end of the regular season. One of the reasons for the failure of the team of Czech coach Radim Rulik was called constant rumors about Lev's move to Prague. They found their confirmation in January 2012, when one of the largest Czech companies, the industrial group ČKD Group, became the sole owner of the club. According to unofficial information, ČKD Group, which actively cooperates with Russian state-owned companies (“Gazprom”, “Rosatom”), agreed to acquire the Poprad club and contribute to the expansion of the KHL into the Czech Republic in exchange for large contracts. Officially, the new owners of the club announced their intention to participate in the Gagarin Cup championship under the new name “Lion of Prague” in March 2012.
Moving to Prague
The Czech Hockey Union, unlike in 2010, did not interfere with the new team and accepted Lev into its ranks in March 2012, and also officially allowed them to participate in the KHL as a club representing the Czech Republic. At the same time, the new Prague “Lion” is not considered the official successor to the Poprad “Lion”.
Photo: Tipsport Arena in Prague (levpraha.cz)
In hockey circles, there are several reasons why Czech hockey officials, despite the contradictory reaction in the country, did not interfere with the KHL club in Prague project. Firstly, there is a high interest on the part of two famous Czech entrepreneurs - Karel Komárek from KKCG and Petr Kellner from PPF, who sponsor hockey, in penetrating the Russian market. Secondly, improved financial conditions for permission for Lev to participate in the KHL. In particular, ČKD Group has undertaken obligations to finance the federation’s national programs for the development of this sport in the Czech Republic, to pay compensation to Extraliga teams in the event of their player transferring to Lev, as well as to ensure the holding of major hockey events in the Czech Republic (in particular, World Junior Championships 2012). And, thirdly, personal participation in the negotiations of the executives of the Continental Hockey League, and part-time top managers of Gazprom, for whom supporting Czech sports and including the Czech club in the KHL participants is an excellent opportunity to earn a positive image, as in the Czech Republic, This is true throughout the region.
Photo: O2 Arena Prague (levpraha.cz)
A relative failure of the Lions' management is the failure of negotiations to use the largest arena in Europe - the O2 Arena - as their home stadium, as a result of which the team is forced to host their rivals at the Tipsport Arena. The last barrier on Lev's path to the KHL were statements from former creditors about unpaid debts of the then Poprad organization for the previous season and their intention to sue the club that had moved to Prague. But before the first game, all the problems were solved. As a result of the redistribution of clubs within the KHL before the 2012/13 season in connection with the admission of Lev and Slovan (Bratislava), the Prague club was included in the Bobrov division of the Western Conference of the Kontinental Hockey League, where its rivals were St. Petersburg SKA , Bratislava “Slovan”, Chekhov’s “Vityaz”, Riga “Dynamo”, Donetsk “Donbass” and Moscow “Dynamo”.
Season 2012/13
Before the season, the Lev management, led by general manager Normunds Seijs, carried out a powerful transfer campaign, thanks to which the Prague residents managed to recruit such hockey players as Jiri Novotny, Erik Christensen, Ondrej Nemec, Jakub Klepis, Marcel Hossa, Tomas Surovy. As the season progressed, the team was replenished by Jakub Stepanek (SKA), Jakub Nakladal (Spartak), Sami Lepiste (Lokomotiv), Richard Günge (Dynamo), Niklas Danielsson (Bern), Alexander Niziwiis (Dynamo Riga "). During the lockout, the team's play was significantly strengthened by the best NHL defenseman Zdeno Chara, the best young Czech player in the NHL, Jakub Voracek, as well as the best scorer of the Omsk Avangard of the last two seasons, Roman Cervenka.
Photo: Roman Cervenka (levpraha.cz)
The very first games showed that Lev’s composition is in no way inferior, and maybe even superior, to most other KHL teams. Having won seven times in the first eight meetings, the Prague club took first place in the final KHL table. However, then followed a failure, 10 defeats in 12 matches, as a result of which the “Lions” found themselves outside the playoff zone. Head coach Josef Jandacz lost his post, and Vaclav Sikora was invited to replace him. The Predators currently occupy 8th place in the Western Conference and continue their battle for the KHL playoffs.
Famous players
Ondrej Nemec, Jakub Nakladal, Sami Lepiste, Jiri Novotny, Jakub Klepis, Lubos Bartecko, Alexander Nizhiwijs, Erik Christensen, Marcel Hossa, Zdeno Chara, Jakub Voracek, Roman Cervenka, Jakub Stepanek.
HC Lev Prague
Lev Praha (full name - HC Lev Praha) is a professional ice hockey team playing in the Kontinental Hockey League. The club's home arena is Tipsport Arena; Lev plays some matches at the O2 Arena.
Club symbols
Form: The home uniform of the Lev hockey players is colored in the red, blue and white colors of the national flag of the Czech Republic.
Emblem: The emblem depicts a lion located on the small coat of arms of the Czech Republic.
"Lion" (Poprad)
"Lion" (Prague)
Story
Preface
The official founding date of the Lev Prague club is 2012. However, the idea of including the Czech team in the KHL appeared back in 2010. The authors of the “Czech Lion” project are Roman Slavchev and Sergey Zaitsev, entrepreneurs from Karlovy Vary, as well as hockey agent Jaroslav Zidek. Initially, Lev was supposed to be based in the city of Hradec Králové, but the refusal of the leadership of the Czech Hockey Union to register the club caused the project participants to move it to the city of Poprad in Central Slovakia.
Having declared his intention to join the ranks of the Slovak Hockey Federation, he became a full member in October 2010. Thanks to this, the Lev management could apply to join the KHL. After the application was approved by the Kontinental Hockey League, the Poprad team officially became a participant in the KHL championship for the 2011/12 season, which was personally announced by its president Alexander Medvedev.
However, despite loud statements, the team was unable to meet the high expectations of the club management. Having lost five matches in a row at the start, Lev failed to gain a foothold in the playoff zone during the season and finished in 20th place at the end of the regular season. One of the reasons for the failures of the team of Czech coach Radim Rulik was the constant rumors about Lev's move to Prague. They found their confirmation in January 2012, when one of the largest Czech companies, the industrial group ČKD Group, became the sole owner of the club. According to unofficial information, ČKD Group, which actively cooperates with Russian state-owned companies (Gazprom, Rosatom), agreed to acquire the Poprad club and contribute to the expansion of the KHL into the Czech Republic in exchange for large contracts. Officially, the new owners of the club announced their intention to participate in the Gagarin Cup championship under the new name “Lion of Prague” in March 2012.
Moving to Prague
The Czech Hockey Union, unlike in 2010, did not interfere with the new team and accepted Lev into its ranks in March 2012, and also officially allowed them to participate in the KHL as a club representing the Czech Republic. At the same time, the new Prague “Lion” is not considered the official successor to the Poprad “Lion”.
In hockey circles, there are several reasons why Czech hockey officials, despite the contradictory reaction in the country, did not interfere with the KHL club in Prague project. Firstly, there is a high interest on the part of two famous Czech entrepreneurs - Karel Komárek from KKCG and Petr Kellner from PPF, who sponsor hockey, in penetrating the Russian market. Secondly, improved financial conditions for permission for Lev to participate in the KHL. In particular, ČKD Group has undertaken obligations to finance the federation’s national programs for the development of this sport in the Czech Republic, to pay compensation to Extraliga teams in the event of their player transferring to Lev, as well as to ensure the holding of major hockey events in the Czech Republic (in particular, World Junior Championships 2012). And, thirdly, personal participation in the negotiations of the executives of the Continental Hockey League, and part-time top managers of Gazprom, for whom supporting Czech sports and including the Czech club in the KHL participants is an excellent opportunity to earn a positive image, as in the Czech Republic, This is true throughout the region.
A relative failure of the Lions' management is the failure of negotiations to use the largest arena in Europe - the O2 Arena - as their home stadium, as a result of which the team is forced to host their rivals at the Tipsport Arena. The last barrier on Lev's path to the KHL were statements from former creditors about unpaid debts of the then Poprad organization for the previous season and their intention to sue the club that had moved to Prague. But before the first game, all the problems were solved. As a result of the redistribution of clubs within the KHL before the 2012/13 season in connection with the admission of Lev and Slovan (Bratislava), the Prague club was included in the Bobrov division of the Western Conference of the Kontinental Hockey League, where its rivals were St. Petersburg SKA , Bratislava “Slovan”, Chekhov’s “Vityaz”, Riga “Dynamo”, Donetsk “Donbass” and Moscow “Dynamo”.
Season 2012/13
Before the season, the Lev management, led by general manager Normunds Seijs, carried out a powerful transfer campaign, thanks to which the Prague residents managed to recruit such hockey players as Jiri Novotny, Erik Christensen, Ondrej Nemec, Jakub Klepis, Marcel Hossa, Tomas Surovy. As the season progressed, the team was replenished by Jakub Stepanek (SKA), Jakub Nakladal (Spartak), Sami Lepiste (Lokomotiv), Richard Günge (Dynamo), Niklas Danielsson (Bern), Alexander Niziwiis (Dynamo Riga "). And during the lockout, the team’s play was significantly strengthened by the best NHL defenseman Zdeno Chara, the best young Czech player in the NHL, Jakub Voracek, as well as the best scorer of the Omsk Avangard of the last two seasons, Roman Cervenka.
The very first games showed that Lev’s composition is in no way inferior, and maybe even superior, to most other KHL teams. Having won seven times in the first eight meetings, the Prague club took first place in the final KHL table. However, then followed a failure, 10 defeats in 12 matches, as a result of which the “Lions” found themselves outside the playoff zone. Head coach Josef Jandács lost his post and was replaced by Vaclav Sikora, who led the Prague club to the playoffs, where they lost to CSKA Moscow in four matches in the first round.
Zdeno Chara
Roman Chervenka
What unites a nation? Language, culture, territory – of course. But what unites people no less is what is called the national idea. We can fully say that hockey is the national idea of the Czechs and a symbol of the people at the same time, and not just a game sport.
The history of the formation of Czech hockey
Contrary to popular belief, Czech hockey, or more precisely, the Czech Hockey Association, has existed for a very long time. In 1908, a group of fans of this game gathered in one of the Prague restaurants, U Platiz, and decided to unite all the country’s hockey players into the Czech Ice Hockey Union. There were almost no hockey players, but this is how the Czech Republic was able to mark itself on the map of sports Europe. This happened almost immediately after the creation of the first Canadian hockey team in 1904, and three years earlier than in Russia, where the first attempts to create a union were made in 1911 (however, then the Russian union ceased to exist for a long time and was revived only in 1946) .
At that time, the Czech Republic was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the union could not represent its country in international competitions. Then the Czech team was called the Bohemia team.
In 1909, the Bohemia team played its first match in Chamonix, France, and suffered a crushing defeat from the local team. We can say that it was then that Czech hockey began its development not just as an exciting game, but as a national philosophy.
Already in 1911, then in 1912, 1914, the team won the European Championships, and in 1913 they became a silver medalist. Then the victorious flight of the team was stopped by the First World War. Many hockey players went to the front.
After the war, the team began to be called the Czechoslovakian national team and competed at the World Championships since 1920. Since then, the Czechs have stood on the podium in almost every championship: they received gold 6 times, silver 12 times, and bronze 16 times.
For the last 22 years, the Czech national team, the successor to the Czechoslovakian national team, has been no less successful in the world championships. The most important prize she won was Olympic gold in 1998. Then, in a tense match for first place with the Russian team, the Czechs were able to defeat Pavel Bure himself and his team.
Today this is one of the best teams in the world, rightfully occupying a leading position in world hockey.
Czech hockey as a national philosophy and national idea
Why is it that in such a small country, by world standards, there is a wonderful team and the land is not short of hockey talents?
The answer is simple: because they love hockey in the Czech Republic. The love for the game arose for many reasons. For a long time, the Czech Republic did not exist as an independent state, therefore they especially value everything that makes up the glory of this particular country, cherish and protect everything that has become the Czech “brand”: Zlata Prague, Czech beer, the good soldier Švejk, Czech hockey. This is how they treat football in England, for example, a purely English invention, and in the USA they treat baseball. In an atmosphere of universal love and admiration, talents are easier to grow.
The Czechs joke: “If hundreds of people with national flags appear on the streets of the city, it means the World Hockey Championship has begun.” And indeed, the idea of universal “support” for the team unites the people and makes the unity of the country not a myth, but a reality.
Nothing in the Czech Republic evokes such a patriotic upsurge as the game of the Czech national team; defeats become a common pain, and victories become a common joy. In such an atmosphere, when there is an entire nation behind you, it is difficult to play poorly and let down those who believe in their team.
Czech hockey: the character of champions
In 1938, at the World Cup, the Czech Republic played for third place with the German team to the cheers of the Nazis. Then the team won the match and became the bronze medalist. In 1940, when the Nazis had already occupied the country, the second match took place at the Winter Sports Week in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, which was held under the auspices of the Fuhrer himself. And the second time the team did not disappoint. Many of the hockey players were then summoned for questioning by the Gestapo. Even then the game became something more than a sport.
In 1969, the Czech national team met with the USSR national team at the World Championships in Sweden. The wounds from the invasion of Russian troops into Czechoslovakia were still fresh and painful. Sport has again become an arena of ideological confrontation. The Czechs won twice with scores of 4:3 and 2:0. Residents wrote these numbers on a Soviet tank in Smíchov and then marched with torches through the streets of Prague. So a small country fought for its freedom.
It is often difficult to resist pressure from large and powerful countries. But on the playing field everyone is equal, and this is how you can prove your right to honor, respect and dignity.
This is what Czech hockey has been doing for a century, and therefore has earned the right to be a national idea, philosophy and symbol of the country.